Broken, Healed and Holy (1)

Many women stuff their wounds and hurts because they don’t want to face them.

This behaviour ends up affecting relationships when its not dealt with; eventually these wounds need to be faced.

DO YOU “STUFF” YOUR STUFF?

Do you feel emotionally constipated? Do you find yourself refusing to deal with certain situations because of the pain or lack of strength to do so? We often think that our lack of strength makes us weak. This is not the case, for our strength is in the name of the Lord and as God’s children, we have the most secure backing. There is nothing to fear if God is with you.

Some examples of how people stuff their feelings

·Ignoring their feeling

·Pretending something hasn’t happened

·Overeating

·Excessive drinking of alcohol or use of recreational or prescription drugs

·Any type of compulsive behaviour

·Always keeping busy to avoid dealing with issues

·Constant intellectualizing and analyzing

·Trying to control or manipulate other people

·Keeping conversations superficial or keeping people at a distance

SECOND CHANCES

A young woman knows in the depth of her heart when she is being used.

Sin can take you further than you expect to go or want to go.

Our God is the God of second chances.

If you want to turn your life around, you have to do it with the grace of God.

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’ve been, or what you’ve done; all that matters is where you decide to go from here.

GROUP DISCUSSION

We spoke a lot about the different coping mechanisms we develop to deal with whatever obstacle life throws our way.

Some people go to their happy place, some put it in a storage room and throw away the key, and some just ignore whatever it is and act as if it never happened. Regardless of whatever coping mechanism we choose, what we forget is that these shortcuts will only ever be temporary and what we really need is a solution.No matter the pain we go through our salvation is in Christ. No matter the sin, Gods love for us is never ending. Jesus Christ is always waiting for you with open arms, SO MUCH SO HE DIED WITH HIS ARMS OPEN! What pain and sin does is isolate our sensors to Gods love for us so that we feel alone in whatever we are stuck in. You are never alone, and if you ever forget this, look onto the cross and see your saviour’s love for you in the sacrifice he made for mankind.

We spoke about how stuffing your stuff hinders ourselves and affects our relationships.

Dealing with our “stuff” is always tricky and the first thing most of us want to do is internalise for one reason or another. It is always good to find someone to talk to because dealing with “stuff” on your own can be difficult and why wait in agony when the solution to your pain could be right around the corner if you just lifted your head to look! The church has some facilities to deal with whatever “stuff” we young folk might be going through. (p.s. most of our problems where not created for us specifically, its been around for years. It just feels like a “my” problem because its happening to you, but in reality it is happening to 1 million people, so you are not alone)

We spoke a lot about internalising our hurt because of our culture and the lack of mediums to discuss our feeling.

We know that it is not in our culture to pay attention to our mental health and seek counselling for fear of being labelled a mad person. But our culture has many flaws so lets not get stuck on social norms, this is your health we are talking about. If you feel the need to speak to someone about your “stuff” come to the church, speak to a priest, speak to a shrink, speak a friend, SPEAK TO CHRIST! Do not suffer in silence because as Christians, you will forever have somebody who loves you unconditionally and without judgement. That is a beautiful reality if you choose to accept it.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young.

You are our hope, the young are our hope. Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father’s love for us and our capacity to become the image of his son.” –Homily St. Pope John Paul II, Downsview Park, Toronto, Sunday July 28, 2002